| :: Tusker Project Fame 2 so far
06 May 2008
It’s been interesting in the last
few weeks in Nairobi. There are two things that everyone
seems to be talking about; Pop Idols and Tusker
Project Fame. In case you have been too busy getting
traumatised by that Austrian dude that imprisoned his daughter
for eighteen years and don't follow what’s happening
right here here's the short version. Tusker Project Fame
is an offshoot of another famous reality show franchise
"Project Fame" where people sit in an academy,
given training by teachers on music performance. They are
judged by some people who are likely to know what is happening.
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This is the second version of the TPF. In 2006,
our friends from EABL introduced the show with quite a bit of
fanfare. I quickly dismissed it as an unfair show with their age
restrictions and instituted a Tusker
Boycott that was to fizzle out pretty fast when I realised
that I would have to actually go to places and not drink Tusker.
It was not worth it. They selected a Kenyan winner to some controversy
(as there always should be at these kinds of events). They had
alienated Uganda and Tanzania when none of their sons and daughters
was deemed talented to be good enough to be in the top four. And
the judges were all Kenyan so they were seen to be biased by our
brothers and sister across the border. As soon as they came out
of the house the top four Cedric, 2nd runner up Linda, 1st runner
up Alvan and winner Valerie spent the next two years amusing me
as they became fodder for the gossip press. You should have been
reading the stuff being written about the whole thing; "Ohhh
TPF never helped us", says TPF finalist… Linda is having
an affair with... Cedric has been abducted by aliens... Valerie
album still on the way (two years on)... Alvan marries goat...
Unfortunately, no music seemed to be coming from
these fellows that so much had been invested in. It was a bit
disappointing to say the least. Eventually some music came out.
Linda did do a Christmas type album. Not much was heard about
it. Cedric did a few collabos; one with Ugandan hottie Iryne and
another with some dude (can't remember his name) that is getting
a bit of airplay. From Alvan came nothing. But these weren't the
winners, they were the runners up. Eventually the winner Valerie
came up with a product. It was an album called Baiskeli and was
touted as a product for the world market. Valerie was quickly
trying to place herself on the international marketplace. The
album had collaborations with all manner of cool people. With
all the noise that has come out from this artist, very few people
seem to be singing any of the tracks on her "critically acclaimed"
album. We are all to busy listening to Pam Waithaka's
"Nimechoka", Wahu's "Sweet
Love", Nakaaya's "Mr. Politician"
and even newcomers like Wiwi. Kind of sad if
you consider that we were the people voting like mad for Valerie
then she decided to do music for people in Europe and the US.
Makes you wonder whether Tusker should have just screened that
show in those markets to make it easier for Valerie to break into
those markets. It was a typical bait and switch from Valerie.
Getting the pop vote and then spitting in our faces and doing
an album for the non pop audience. If she hasn't already done
so already, She will pay...
So here we are in 2008. Our friends at Tusker went back to the
drawing board and they came up with a better version of TPF2.
To avoid mad boycotts of their core audience, this time they allowed
an over thirty contestant in the house (you owe me a Tusker Ian)
and he was promptly kicked out last Saturday. Nicely done. To
avoid a whif of bias they have three judges from the three countries.
They wisely kept Ian Mbugua the Kenyan and brought
in two more people from Uganda and Tanzania. And they brought
in some of the more popular producers from Kenya like Clemo
the Calif Records supremo to bring legitimacy to the whole process.
The prize being given this time was not a Mercedes but five million
shillings bob. And they got Citizen TV on board. It isn't the
most "hype" TV station (i.e. it isn’t KTN or NTV)
but that station has the biggest reach. They are the kings of
the live broadcast and if we are to be truly honest is just the
ideal home for the brand Tusker. And Citizen TV over the last
year or so has been coming up with some of the most innovative
locally produced TV shows like Inspecta Mwala, Tahidi High and
Papa Shirandula. So what could possibly go wrong?
The TPF2 guys seemed to running the show in a very strange manner.
It was like watching the chaotic campaign run by Hillary Clinton.
They had a launch party which
they called "the white party". Everyone was meant to
come dressed in white to see the official launch. And I came and
had a ball with my pals. The only problem was having a huge coterie
of media with nothing for them to record. It was not pretty. We
waited for hours before someone suggested to the organisers that
the media were about to leave. Eventually some artists performed.
It was not nice this event. When the most important story coming
out of your launch is that Shaffie Weru had a very large bill
then you know that you are not doing something right. It was then
suggested that Akon would be joining the judging panel for one
day. I don't know who came up with that whole Akon angle but they
could always say they misspoke like poor Hillary dodging snipers.
The final misstep had to be the day that they were having the
contestants get into the house officially. I don't get the way
some people do their scheduling but that was not too bright. If
they had looked around, they would have noted that on that day
was the game of the season; Man U vs Arsenal. And this game had
been billed as the English premiership decider. So you can be
sure that many Kenyans had poured into bars all over the country
to see this crunch game (which Man U won incidentally). Nothing
personal but why would you want people at home watching Citizen
TV instead of being out at bars drinking your product? Strange
reasoning this.
Even with the few faux pas, there seems to be something very
interesting to the national psyche in the last few days. Everyone
is glued to their screens when this show is screening. I was doing
some business planning to take over the world with a colleague
at her house recently when her kids kept shushing us as they were
trying to watch TPF2. The young audience seems enthralled by it.
I decided to join madness this past Sunday and opted to watch
the show on Citizen TV and was quite impressed. I watched most
of the show although there seemed to be a technical hitch that
lasted forever and I must applaud Kenyans for watching a show
that is half TPF2 and half adverts promoting Citizen TV shows.
Kudos.
Now even as I rib these guys, I have to applaud them for what
they are doing with this show. They are developing the next generation
of superstars. At this rate, the next international superstar
will come from these shores. Kudos Tusker. And off course Tusker
will always be associated with the joy and heartbreak of the whole
project fame experience. It can't be too bad for the future of
their brand in this part of the world.
>> Related Links
:: Tusker Project fame
returns
:: Tusker
project Fame official website
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